The great importance of the final episode of Huckleberry FinnOne of the things that many critics of Huckleberry Finn just can't understand is the final episode of the novel in which Tom returns and distracts Huck from saving Jim through a long series of silly, childish plans based on ideas Tom has gleaned from romantic novels, such as those of Walter Scott. Critic Stephen Railton dismisses these final chapters as "just another version of their Royal Nonesuch" (405); referring, of course, to the silly comedy enacted by the Duke and the Dauphin in chapter 23. From one point of view, this whole "escapist" sequence seems fun and entertaining in the traditions of frontier and Southwestern humor. Twain had a reputation as a humorist, and some of his readers got a big laugh out of this section. Many, however, are discouraged by this; I think it seems out of place in this novel that deals with so many serious and adult topics; the theme is man's inhumanity to man, but that can still be overcome by the simple friendship developed between a white boy and a black slave on a raft. For many, who don't look too deeply, this final episode seems out of place, disappointing, threatening, or just downright repugnant. Philip Young called the ending "irrelevant" (Gullason 357). Leo Marx called it a “fragile artifice” (Gullason 357). And William VanO'Connor called it "a serious anti-climax" (Gullason 357). This is just a small example. But can it really be just some silly nonsense, some "RoyalNonesuch"? Can we really think so little of Twain that we believe he would simply abandon the seriousness of... middle of paper... d E. Hudson Long. New York: Norton, 1961. 305-309. Railton, Stephen. "Jim and Mark Twain: What Do They Stand For?" Virginia Quarterly Review 63.3 (Summer 1987): 393-408. Rubenstein, Gilbert M. "The Moral Structure of Huckleberry Finn." College English 18 (November 1956): 72-76. Rpt. in Clemens, Samuel Langhorne. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: annotated text, background and sources, critical essays. Eds. Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long. New York: Norton, 1961. 378-384. Stallman, R.W. "Reality and Parody in Huckleberry Finn." College English 18 (May 1957): 425-426. Rpt. in Clemens, Samuel Langhorne. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: annotated text, background and sources, critical essays. Eds. Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long. New York: Norton, 1961. 384-387.